The 10 best reasons to move to Sweden

This post will convince you to move to Sweden, even if you fear high taxes, hate the cold and dark, detest Abba and herring, and tremble with the thought of “Swedish socialism“.

10 reasons why you should move to Sweden.

1. Swedish benefits are the best in the world.

Five weeks paid vacation to start. More if you’re older or work for the government.

480 days of paid parental leave = Happy Kids = Good society

Parents get a total of 480 parental days for each child. For most of those days you’ll earn 80% of a salary of up to roughly $45,000 per year, which in Sweden is very good money. Parents have time to bond with their children — one reason why Sweden was recently ranked the best place in the world to grow up.

Cheap daycare, unlimited sick days and free healthcare, need I go on?

2. High taxes aren’t high if you are getting your money’s worth.

I don’t think taxes are too high in Sweden. Yes, if you are a billionaire, like IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, then you are going to pay a lot of taxes, which is why he moved to Switzerland in 1976.

Even Americans agree the progressive tax system in Sweden is just. A recent poll shows Americans prefer the Swedish system, they just don’t know it.

My income tax is 30%, which is normal by Swedish standards.

Sweden does have a 25% value added tax or consumption tax. That’s high, which is why Swedes go shopping like crazy when they are in the US.

But look at how much I get.

There is universal healthcare in Sweden. You don’t pay anything unless you have to go to the doctor. In that case, you pay a small amount per visit. Last year, I went to see a back surgeon and I paid around $40. For a normal visit to a clinic if you get sick, you’ll pay around $20. For kids under 18, you pay nothing. That’s right, nothing!

Daycare is heavily subsidized. It costs about $120 a month, but you get a monthly child benefit from the government which covers those costs. So basically daycare is free.

And, oh yeah, University is free.

Overall, I am happy with the taxes I pay in Sweden because I get a lot back. I’d rather skip paying the middle man for the essential services, which in the US tends to be huge corporations like insurance and pharmaceutical companies. No thanks, leave them out, I’d rather pay direct to the government.

Want more details on all the Swedish benefits? Check out Sweden.se, an invaluable website that describes all the Swedish benefits in detail.

3. It is cold and dark and then sunny and perfect

Honestly, I didn’t like the cold and dark when I moved here, and I’m not sure I like it now. But the extreme weather doesn’t slow Swedes down at all.

They’re out and about all winter long. They cross-country and downhill ski, ice skate, play hockey, take walks, run, sled, drink coffee, and even put their babies outside to sleep in their carriages. I was amazed the first time I saw it, but it’s true. They say it’s good for them. My kids do it too.

The summer is incredible.

The sun rises before you wake up and sets after you go to bed. If you work until 5 pm, you’ll have 5-6 hours of sun after work. That’s quality time for swimming, kayaking, walking, or picknicking — practically a professional sport here.

OK, this statement is subjective, but I’ve yet to hear anyone challenge it. Do you dare?

5. Sweden is a great place for women

If it’s good for women, it’s good for everyone. This Marie Claire article, reports that women thrive in Sweden, citing a 2005 report from the World Economic Forum that named Sweden the “most advanced country” for women.

6. Get green

If one of the most comprehensive public transportation systems in the world sound good to you, move to Sweden. Trains and buses go everywhere, from the big cities to small skiing villages like Åre in the Swedish mountains.

Take my family as an example. We are a family of four, with two children, and we don’t have a car, even though we live in a suburb. Can you do that where you live?

Stockholm was named Europe’s first Green Capital in 2010. Among the reasons cited by the European Union are the city’s successful 25% cut in emissions since 1990, large number of green areas, and the city’s ambitious goal to be independent of fossil fuels by 2050.

All throughout Sweden the air is clean, there is tons of nature and the water is perfect for drinking and swimming.

7. Transparent politics

Sweden always ranks among the top countries in the world in transparency with low levels of corruption. Yes, politicians are still politicians, but in Sweden they are less shady.

8. Strong, independent media

This is the main factor ensuring reason #7 remains on the list. I’ve seen TV shows, both investigative reporting and documentaries, on Swedish public TV that never in a million years would be shown on American public or network TV — maybe not even on cable.

The Swedish media does its job. Journalists cover the important stories, know they should and aren’t afraid to. This, in turn, creates an educated population and a transparent government.

9. You are in Europe

Close to all the other European countries. That means weekend trips, skiing in the Alps, drinking Pinot Noir and savoring fresh mozzarella in Italy, touring the museums of Paris, and anything else you can think of.

10. Will Ferrell is practically a Swede

He is married to one and comes to Sweden for a good part of the summer. Watch the film.

132 thoughts on “The 10 best reasons to move to Sweden”

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I would like to add that yes, Sweden has the benefits stated however, living in Sweden is very difficult and lonely. As far as the benefits go be careful. Yes, dentists and doctors are free for children but if you’re not already in the system expect to wait 9 months for an appointment. As I was an adult and paying for my health care I received an appointment within a month. I lived in Sweden and the people were and are as cold as ice. I could be dead on the sidewalk and they would step over me rather than lend a hand. I was told my dog was not well bred enough to get the name of my neighbour’s groomer. The people are so passive aggressive that they feel they can ignore you or be outright mean and rude to you and not expect you to say anything back. This is EVERYBODY. Sweden to me was like a long prison sentence. Even the other ex-pats I met all couldn’t wait to be transferred out of Sweden. These are people who had lived all over the world and considered Sweden the worst transfer of all and even rated third world countries a better quality of life than Sweden. It was the worst time of my life. I would NEVER go back.

Spend two years in Gothenburg and yes – besides the fact that I had a few wonderful people around me – I made the exactly the same experience and can confirm every single statement you made above. The best about sweden is its reputation.

I have to say… U r on point wit that!
I wasn’t born here but I was raised here. I often recognize myself in being a swed and sometimes I don’t, so I cn see the difference and ur totally right on all that!
Sweden is really boring, pepole are lonely here mostly bcos they don’t want to feel any burden of other people but also because we are efficient and don’t like to spend, of different reasons.. In overall swedes are very interesting pepo. But wat makes sweden so good is the comfortable wellfair which causes all the bad manners bcos it makes us feel too proud and comfortable.

I totally agree I have seen that people are quite or they’re just anti social and mean. The other day four boys were beating up this other boy and nobody said or did anything, the just walked on like nothing was happening

I’ve dreamt about moving to sweden for years now. I’d like some more information about the weather, id like to move to the warmest part. Also the music scene, is there many bars and concerts there? And one more thing, how do people in Sweden feel about tattoos? Is there many tattoo shops or alternative places to shop?

I live in sweden, born and raised. i love it, but I hate it… Right now we’ve had no snow for thhe whole of winter, we’ve had Slask… (Slush) and rain pouring down mixed with ice and snow… In winter we get sun at about 7am and it sets at 4pm, i live on the southwest coast, Halland, the california of sweden, and we are Monterey to San fransisco, but with a closer distance. Like…Antioch, IL to Chicago, IL. And it’s misty, raw, fresh cold air, that will bite your fingers off if you don’t protect them. (I wore a tshirt in January in Chicago, they thought I was mad…) but the cold is similars though they got the lakefront and we live on the coast. We got a messed up politics now, new reigm, and jobs are slim. We have A poverty problem, and too many immigrants to fit in anywhere, no room for them to live… So.. They get to live in the campground cottages and bunk or floor it… We send children home to a sure death, bu the criminals and psychologically unstable can stay… And well… Winter just sucks when there’s no Snow so half the population goes into a depression and some idjits have been brutalizing cats… Come summer we thrive… And tourists occupy our beaches so we stay on our porches and drink and sunbathe, and we live life for te other weeks of the year where we bust our asses to pay taxes to be able to do absolutely nothing for five weeks with full pay… 🙂 but yeah. We have some good sides to. Like chip a tooth, barely pay anything, and going to the doctor you pay $25 or something… I won’t complain much, just don’t put this country up on no pedistal.

The weather here is unreliable, one winter can be freezing and you get a ton of snow from october-march and the next winter it might be no snow at all and one summer can be absolutely gorgeous and the year after its just rain rain rain.
The warmest part of sweden is the south part.
We have some music festivals during the summer and in regards of tattoos….EVERYBODY has at least one!

Hi.
I live in a town called Norrköping. It’s like in the middle of Sweden. but abt the weather.. There is no warmest part. Ok, the north is colder during winter(nov-mars) but it’s warmest during the summers.. so u can basically move to any part of Sweden. The weather is not that different.
In Scandinavia the weather is all the same.

Hi..
I cn answer ur other questions..
sweden is a very free country, compared to the rest of Europe. Here u hav the right to do wateva u want(by that I mean good things!). Tatoos are very VERY common here.
abt the music….. um.. We have a very gd swedish music culture but finding the places is the difficult part. Bars are there too but as u kno sweden, theres not alot of life there. Most pepo prefer to drink at home.
oh!, and one thing I dont like abt drunk sweeds is that they act irresponsibly and foolish, lik.. excessively! And they hav to drink to get comfortable and hav fun, it’s jst that smetyms it gets too much.
The tatoo artwork is real here! And the shops are many, and so are the concerts

Well , JMC , having been to Sweden,in the last month,WE have NOT found your problems ! We are moving to Kalmar in two months time,AND,ALL, we have found is a COMMUNITY SPIRIT !! (Not in Kalmar) (15 KM) But we are UK Oldies,on the the NORMAL state (UK) pension,maybe a younger person would not be SO content ??

I’m marrying a sweedish guy and once i graduate i’ll move to sweden. I’m exited and scared alot of new experiences. But i guess its a great place for the kids since he can stay home with me for 480 days hehe paied.

I am an American expat. I moved to Sweden 20 years ago when my Swedish wife was pregnant. I never wanted kids if I had to raise them in the states. When I went to Sweden a few years before our kids, I found the country to be like the one I grew up in, before it went into the crapper. I will not move back to the US, a third world country with first world prices, and third world corruption. Under Clinton I got 11 kronor to the dollar, W made it 6 kronor to the dollar and I was paid in dollars. Our house was 435,000 kronor or about 60K when we bought and then it got cheaper under Clinton, or about 40K. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and a sauna. Family room, living room, kitchen dining area, but only 1 car garage, with a friggebod (guest cottage wing). Bus stop at 100 meters, the Baltic sea with a beach about 300 meters. A campground one street over from our back yard. Parabola tv rather than cable. 100 mbs broadband for about 30 bucks a month. My oldest daughter had orthodontic work, for free. Our little elementary school once took 1st place in the country, and has stayed in the top ten since, even though our house was 40K. My daughter took a part time McDonalds job for 15 bucks an hour. Sweden does not allow marketing to kids, they are not raised to be consumers. My youngest is in scouts, which is co-ed. She played futball, or soccer, and was recruited by the boys team, no one batted an eye. The prices displayed are what you pay, no added on taxes, fees, or the typical bait and switch America is known for. My MRI came with headphones and a music selection, I chose Sinatra. In the US all I heard was the constant clanging. In Sweden we had a panic button, in the states a patient died after puking and choking on her own vomit, it was a right to work state so no nurses union, and the nurse running the machine was the cheapest the facility could pay. Swedish is a germanic language, english is a germanic language. I flew to the US recently, Stockholm to Fort Lauderdale, nonstop direct flight on Norwegian Air. My kids don’t need kevlar vests at their schools. I took my youngest to target shooting with pellet rifles, she hit one bullseye. I chaperoned at her school’s disco night, and volunteer when I can. Swedes were among the earliest US settlers in 1635 up the Delaware river and New Sweden by way of Kalmar and Gothenburg on the ship Kalmar Nickel (Kalmar Key) I give a talk to school classes when they cover America. . They introduced the log cabin, that supposed American unit. The English froze to death with their clapboard housing, the Swedes had no problem. They also came for furs, gold, and silver. No religious motivation, just business.

One other thing, my prescription when I ran out in the states, was a hundred times the price I paid in Sweden. 100 tabs for 3 bucks in Sweden, in the US it was 100 bucks for 30 tablets. You track your scripts annually, and once a threshold is reached, the medicine is free for the rest of the year. Skype was invented in Sweden, Spotify too. The fastest broadband in the world is in Sweden. A 2 hour movie downloads in two seconds.

My son just moved there, an American. His prescription that he needs will run out soon and he doesn’t have insurance. How does he go about getting his prescription filled. He went to a hospital a month ago there, it was an emergency by ambulance cause he had run out of his medicine and had a bad reaction and the doctor at the hospital would only give him enough pills to last him for the remainder of his 3 months visa. Should he just visit a private doctor? He is in Gotenburg. Thank you for any helpful suggestions!

Firstly let me convey my compliments for the well covered article. Each and every input i of great importance for decision making. These decisions are not easy so inputs have to be reliable. I am 52 years old having engineering background with 25 years of experience in aviation maintenance industry and HR management. what are my chances of immigration to Sweden. Please mail me your comments if possible.
Regards

I am a lawyer from and a writer from UK but living in Nigeria. I studied law in UK, though I never practised there nor practised in Nigeria but I have a first degree in law from the university of London and a masters degree from Metropolitan university London.

I want to relocate to Sweden with my family. My husband and two children.

I wish I could move to Sweden. It sounds to me like they have a good idea how to care about the people of their country. Political transparency is something we need in the United States. Not sure it will ever happen. Great article by the way.

The person who wrote the first comment here, about the Swedes being passive aggressive is spot on. Being a Swede I can tell you we don’t like foreigners, or each other for that matter. Personally I don’t like Americans, Britts, French ot any other people except for the Norwegians. This silent anger is not something typically swedish but can be found in all Nordic countries, especially Finland.

I guess the reason for this behaviour goes back many hundred years if not even more. Scandinavian societies hav been ordered societies for many hundred years and people have gradually transferred their responsibilities for their fellow man to the government or the King.

If you think you are a wonderful person and you want other people to enjoy you presence and your wonderful personality, don’t came to Sweden. If you have a need for other people to talk to you, to look at you, to confirm.your being, you better stay where you are.. Going to Sweden will absolutly break you if you have that mindset.